65 
XXIV.—RAMIE—(continued). 
(Boehmeria nivea, Hk, & Arn.) 
[K. B., 1889, pp. 268-278.] 
Readers of the Kew Bulletin will raphi noticed that considerable 
attention has been devoted in its pages to the subject of the present 
The previous histor ory of Rami’ se Rhea, a ng of the various 
efforts that have been made in recent years to a its valuable fibre 
available for commercial enterprise, have been SRST bass summarised. 
ring the present year interest in Ramie a to have become 
} more and more general, and judging by the co on Penh e addressed 
to this establishment the subject is followed with keen interest at home 
as isda as in India and the Colonies. 
onnexion with the Paris Exposition Universelle, 1889, a special 
series “of trials was held of machines and pron for decorticating 
amie (Exposition Universelle: Essais spéciaux de machines et 
wpiareila pour la dätorda iion de la See and on the saci of the 
In ogee Office, and in continuation of similar action taken last year, 
D. Morris, F.L.S., the Assistant Director, was appointed to repre- 
ae this country and to prepare a report of the results. This report, 
with the permission of the Secretary oF State for India, is reproduced 
below 
Royal Gardens, Kew, October 26, 1889. 
A series of interesting trials of machines and processes designed for 
the decortica tion of Ramie was held by the French Minister of Agri- 
The trials were resumed this year as an in smalls part the 
Concours spéciaux des instruments agricoles of the E Uni- 
verselle, and opened on the 23rd September last. The jury oonsialed 
h 
attendance of foreign representatives was considerably larger than in 
1888, and the greatest interest was manifested in the ninen a by a 
| large concourse of visit 
| The machines and processes this year were confined to those which 
| had been shown asa regular part of the general exhibition. As wi 
be seen later, all the competitors were French, and this in spite of the 
fact that more than a dozen machines and -e rocesses have lately been 
meaa in this country, which are now in course of being carefully 
tes 
In my previous report it was pointed out that amongst the French 
there was attached an importance beyond their value to machines for for 
cleaning Ramie in the dry state. I ventured to express the opinion, 
